Tuesday, July 3, 2012

1) How far into the school year do you think kinders need to be to be able to begin the process of Read to Self? What is realistic? When do you plan to begin implementation?I actually begin the second day of school. We talk about the three ways to read a book, I give them their book box and lead them to a special place to read. I whisper the whole time and we practice sitting still, looking at the book the whole time, and using a whisper voice. As soon as someone gets restless, I play music and they return to the carper. We discuss how well they did and dance a little. I read them a story and then I let them try again. We usually only make it to two minutes at first but slowly they will get the idea and be able to read for longer times each day. After a few days, I let them trade books with a friend.2) How will you make sure that each child views him/herself as a reader (whether they are reading words or not)?I think my kids are used to being read to and looking at books so this one is pretty easy for me. We talk a lot about the three ways to read and how they can start looking for letters in the words even if they don't know any words yet.

3) What are some ideas you have about "Launching Read to Self" in kindergarten? How will you go about it and what are some ways to make sure it is "kinder friendly"?

I have outlined how we build our Read to Self skills in the plans on my website under Teachers. It takes some patience and practice to let them slowly gain stamina. It can be hard not to rush them (since the teacher has assessing to do!) but they can get there.My kids get to do name centers the first few weeks of school as we build the Daily Five skills. I think writing is the hardest for my kids (they want to color the whole time).

4) How will you/do you build the children's belief that this IS important? What can we do to encourage the ones who do not value it and create disruptions for others?

I think the check in time is by far the most important thing for getting the kids on board. Afer each round, we gather on the carpet and share what we learned. The kids from word work share the words they made, the kids from writing share their writing, I try to comment on the partner reading and how well they did working together. Some years I have given the kids doing read to self sticky notes to mark an important part of the book or connection. This time is truly how I reinforce concepts and expectations each time. And the kids amaze me!

5) How valuable is Checking In and Reviewing with kindergarteners? How often will you do it? When will you do it? What are some different ways to "check in"?

See above!

6)What are some problems that can occur during this problem (either that you anticipate with your kinders OR that you have experienced)? How can we be proactive about these issues?

I usually have 2 or 3 special ed kids in my class (who are usually much lower or have behavior challenges). I work with my special ed teacher and we try to anticipate their needs. Sometimes they can't focus as long as other kids so we have some other activities for them (although they are great at the listening center! and this year we had great success with working with a friend in partner reading). Some kids may need to work longer on learning letters than the other students so I try to have some activities for word work that meet that need. I try to not have parents volunteer during this part of the day. I like the kids to work independently while I am with reading groups and not be dependent on another adult. This may sound weird but I find it is quieter with just the kids working. I usually have a special educator or assistant working with some of the kids, though.

I try to start reading groups during daily five when we get to 15 minutes of reading stamina however I do some small group work during the other parts of the day before we get to that point. So if they are working on name centers, I will call 4-6 kids over to read with me. This way, I get a feel for where each child is before I start assessing more formally.